This invention relates to the field of power tools for use in making auto body repairs, in particular to iron or press out wrinkles in metal auto body parts, to straighten such parts by pulling, and to remove dents therein by pushing from the opposite side. The invention relates to that part of auto body repair in which relatively small areas of the auto body parts have to be dealt with individually to remove relatively small wrinkles, bends and dents.
Prior art methods for removing these relatively smaller wrinkles, bends and dents include the use of hammers, pry bars and other types of hand tools. It is very difficult to completely smooth out all wrinkles, bends and dents by use of such tools, so it is then necessary to use filler materials such as bondo, epoxy and the like in order to restore a completely smooth surface.
The present invention solves such problems by providing a power tool for repair of relatively small areas of body parts in which a small hydraulic ram is mounted on the tool and its various embodiments, giving such tool sufficient power to iron out wrinkles, to grip for straightening by connection to a powered pulling source, and to press out dents, all by a slow, smooth, continuously applied force rather than by repeated impacts of a hammer or repeated repositioning of pry bars and the like. The slow, smooth, continuously applied force can be applied with enough precision to restore the damaged auto body part to its original shape, or close enough to its original shape to make the use of filler materials unnecessary in most cases where such fillers would be required when existing prior art methods of such auto body repair are used.